Edited for brevity
Pilots use automated systems to fly airliners for all but about three minutes of a flight: the takeoff and landing.
...In the most recent fatal airline crash in the U.S., in 2009 near Buffalo, N.Y., the
co-pilot of a regional airliner programmed incorrect information into the plane's computers, causing it to slow to an unsafe speed. That triggered a stall warning.
...The startled captain, who hadn't noticed the plane had slowed too much, responded by repeatedly pulling back on the control yoke, overriding two safety systems, when the correct procedure was to push forward.
A couple questions-
1) Who only hand flies for three minutes?
2) Is the Dash that computer heavy, or is this bogus info?
Ok, this is a statement-
3) We do need basic stick and rudder skills ingrained in us from hundreds of hours of flying (not 200 but many hundreds), this should not have to be taught to us at our first regional, it shoud be in basic training, not at a puppy mill.
Originally Posted by
APC225
But other new regulations are going in the opposite direction. Today, pilots are required to use their autopilot when flying at altitudes above 24,000 feet, which is where airliners spend much of their time cruising. The required minimum vertical safety buffer between planes has been reduced from 2,000 feet to 1,000 feet.
Limited opportunities to fly manually
Opportunities to fly manually are especially limited at commuter airlines, where pilots may fly with the autopilot off for about 80 seconds out of a typical two-hour flight, Coffman said.
Has this changed recently, or is this the kind of research that MSNBC does?
I would like to say when I used to fly the SAAB we had to disconnect the A/P in icing conditions, which we were in quite a bit as the SAAB couldn't outclimb its own shadow, so I can't see how they could make a blanket statement like "80 seconds" at the commuters.
I wish one day someone would interview a line pilot, instead of a "network expert".